Medically a Vampire
by PurpleStormAngel
Summary: Paige Quinn Nelson, the younger sister of Vicki Nelson by 10 years, is an Empath, slightly telepathic, and has medical disorders that give her the abilities of a vampire. While working a case, she meets the handsome Mr. Henry Fitzroy and becomes irrationally attracted to him. What is a young, 21 year old girl to do if Mr. right is a vampire?
1. Chapter 1: Blood Price Part 1

**Medically a vampire**

**Chapter 1: Blood Price Part 1**

**AN: Welcome to my first Blood Ties FanFic. Updating is slow at the moment, I hope that doesn't put you off.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Blood Ties then it wouldn't have cancelled after 22 episodes. But sadly it was, which means I don't own it. **

_Thursday 14__th__ October 1999_

_Pain, sorrow and embarrassment, happiness, anger, relief and all manner of other emotions pulsated through me. I could feel everything. Why is this happening to me? As if I'm not screwed up as it is, with the medical conditions now I have this other disability, which is really annoying and hard to control. Oh what am I do?_

I sighed and pulled close the old diary I was reading for 7 years ago. It was worn and streaked in dirt in some places but it still looked the same as ever. An onyx black spiral binder with white and silver doodles on the front. God I was such a negative person at 14. I jerked out of the depressing thoughts and packed up the remainder of my research and rushed out of the University Annex library, pulling my black leather backpack with a detailed flower engraved on the top flap, up over my leather clad shoulder. The night was dark and crisp, the light breeze chilled me through my blue leather jacket, plain black V-neck ¾ length shirt, raven black skinny jeans and classic black and white converse. I rushed away from the university and towards a familiar face. An attractive women was talking into her cell phone. She had light bronze skin with long straight strawberry blonde hair tied in a medium height ponytail and hazel coloured eyes. Framing her brown-green eyes was thick medium length eyelashes. She was wearing a pair of black wire rimmed glasses, a black biker jacket over a black singlet, dark grey jeans and black ankle boots. Even from across the road I could recognise that she was my sister Vicki. I could just make out what she was saying from across the street.

"Hi, Mom." She paused as she listened to the reply from the other end. "Yeah, my date ended early so I thought I'd give you a call." She paused then I could just see the irritation bubbling through her face. I rushed quickly across the street lit road to where Vicki was talking. I waved a quick hi and she did the same. Vicki continued on the phone and I didn't help but overhear her conversation as I helped steer her clear of obstacles "Mom, with you if it ends too late, I'm going too fast, If it ends too early, I've driven him away. You know what? We just didn't fit, okay?" Vicki paused then replied, annoyed "No, I did not hit him. He was one of those guys, you know? He held the door and he pulled out the chair. Mom, he tried to read me the menu. You know what? I don't need help. I'm not blind," Vicki bumped into some people and I just giggled quietly. Vicki glared at me. "Yet," She added as we continued walking down the street. Vicki put the phone away and suddenly I heard a scared scream. It sounded like it was coming from a small alleyway. Vicki looked at me, the question clear in her eyes. I pointed to a small alley way where a tall cloaked man was towering over a struggling man on the floor. We quickly darted across the street almost getting hit by a car. By the time we finally pushed our way through the street the attacker was already gone leaving behind a dead body.

"What do we do?" I asked, slightly frightened, slightly excited.

"Follow him," Vicki told me.

"Normal or accelerated speed?" I asked cautiously, eager to properly run.

"Accelerated," She said and I took off, blurred with speed. I followed him down an abandoned alleyway, with Vicki trailing behind, when suddenly he dispersed into bats. I stopped, dead in my tracks, too stunned to speak. Sure he couldn't be… Vicki almost crashed into me I had stopped so suddenly. "Did you see where he went?" She stated panting slightly. I could only shake my head.

Later, after a good 20 minutes, cops were surrounding us, asking us questions. Vicki had been taken away so that she could be questioned by her tall, kinda cute, former partner/ex-lover while I was being talked to by a fairly rude, fat cop. "I told you that I turned into the alleyway and he was gone," I repeated, getting irritated with the cop repeating the same question over, and over. I may be only 21, but I'm by no means stupid. Or defenceless.

"She is probably covering up for someone, maybe her boyfriend. Why else would she not own up for someone running past her?" the cop said, but his lips didn't move. I sighed and rubbed my temple gently. Why do people have to think so loud?

"Are we done?" I sighed, irritated.

"Yeah sure," the cop muttered. I nodded my head and walked over to where Vicki was standing, being investigated by Mike. "Can we go now Vic?" I asked. Mike nodded at me, with his signature expression. It was somewhere between a smile and a scowl. "Later" he told Vicki. She just rolled her eyes in response. We turned and started to walk away. As we walked I noticed Vicki had her questioning yet agitated look on her face and her mind was a blur with questions.

"What is it" I asked. Vicki stared at me in surprise, then her understanding expression ran across her face.

"I don't know much because Mike wouldn't tell me but I know this was the second murder like this at least. And when did you start ready minds again?" she questioned.

I sighed before answering her. "I didn't purposely, I just can't control it sometimes, especially when people think really loudly or hard, you know that." Vicki nodded slowly as we walked back to the apartment we shared.

The next morning, which was my day off from college to help my sister, Vicki was on the phone and I was on the computer, doing some school work online when I heard someone coming up the stairs. From the lightness of the footfalls, I guessed that it was a young female, probably a client. "Vic, you have a client," I told her, saving the last essay on my hard-drive. Vicki nodded and went back to doing her phone call interviews. The young woman entered the office and I felt a familiar aura. I looked over to see a pale, gothic dressed young woman with long straight chestnut coloured hair standing there. It was Coreen Fennel, my best friend "Can we help you?" Vicki asked.

"The papers say you were there last night. You saw Ian's murder," Coreen stated while her mind said something different. "Paige told me that her and her sister didn't look similar but I didn't really believe her, but now I do." I smiled inwardly. Most people reacted like that. While my sister was blonde, had hazel eyes and light bronze skin, I had speckled azure eyes that fade to amber around the pupil, dark cocoa brown hair with liquid golden highlights that falls in soft waves to the bottom of my ribcage, and peached coloured skin. But our body shape was quite similar, angular face and high cheekbones, slim nose, shaped eyebrows, full eyelashes, slim toned body, angular hourglass body shape and slim fingers with short natural un-polished fingernails. But somehow people never notice that.

"You know what? If you're some kind of graveyard groupie…" Vicki trailed off, not knowing what to say next.

"My name is Coreen Fennel, Ian was my boyfriend. I was on the phone with him when it happened," she explained, tears coming to her eyes.

'"I'm sorry, I know you liked him, what we can do for you?" I asked, getting up and pulling out a black pad and blue ballpoint pen, to take down notes. I had incredibly neat shorthand.

"You know her?" Vicki asked in her mind, directing her question at me. I nodded, pen poised as Coreen continued.

"He saw something," Coreen stated, in a hushed tone.

"He saw who killed him?" I asked, puzzled. "You should be telling this to the police."

"I did. They won't believe me," she answered quietly "I need somebody who will."

"What exactly do you need people to believe?" Vicki asked.

"Ian was killed by a walker of the night. A vampire," Coreen stated firmly. I almost dropped my pad, remembering what I had seen last night. It could be a vampire, possibly, if they existed. No one seemed to notice that I had frozen so I shook off the stupor and continued to write.

"Coreen I understand…" Vicki tried to say but was cut off by Coreen.

"Don't patronize me, Paige said you had an open mind," Coreen argued, strongly "they're real, out there, walking the night" she told us. "Looking to sleight their unquenchable thirst, feeding on us the way we feed on cows or chickens."

"Chickens?" Vicki said, disbelievingly. At the tone in her voice, I looked up at her and gave her a filthy look, which she returned with the same strength.

"Ian told me what he saw, he said it was a guy wearing a black cap. The police tried to hide it from me, but it was in the papers this morning," she said. Vicki tried to say something but Coreen cut her off again. "Whatever killed him took all of his blood," she stated to Vicki, thinking that that would be the final fact that persuaded her. But, if I knew my sister, which I did, she didn't change her mind that easily.

"You know what, I'm sure when they find who did this there will be a reasonable explanation," Vicki stated.

"They won't find him because they're not looking for what really killed him," Coreen argued. "It was a vampire, I know it," she finished taking a seat across from Vicki. "I can pay you" she fished around in her bag for her wallet. "I got a job at the university pub." Vicki sighed, so quietly that I think I was the only one who could hear it. "It wasn't human that killed him Miss Nelson you guys were there you must have known that," Coreen pleaded. Memories of the way that guy that turned into bats floated back in my head. I looked at Vicki to see she was actually considering it. Well that's surprising.

"Vic?" I questioned, hoping that she would take the case.

"You know, all I know is that whoever did it was big and they wore black" Vicki answered. "And could turn into bats," I thought but didn't say it out loud. Even to Coreen, I would have seen crazy. "If it's not a vampire, fine, I just need somebody to investigate it," Coreen stated. "Please," she finally asked.

"I don't want to waste your time or your money so I look into it for a few days, that's it," Vicki decided, making up her mind that she would help my best friend.

"It's um 500 per day, plus expenses," I informed her. Coreen nodded.

"Just don't put too much hope into this, okay, it may turn out to not be what you think," Vicki commented, comfortingly.

Later that evening, after the sun had gone down, we left to take another look at the scene were the man disappeared. We investigated the area and saw a small black pentagram on the wall. I took a photo on my IPhone, while Vicki held the torch. I didn't really need a torch, my eyesight was perfect after all, but she did. Soon after the pentagram, we found a crack in the wall with something inside it. I guessed it was blood from the coppery smell it gave off. Vicki scratched away some into a zip lock bag with her nail file. Just as we were about to leave I noticed a tall, handsome man with wavy russet coloured hair and dressed in a black suit jacket pants, black long coat over a black dress shirt, and black shoes go down the same alleyway that the crime happened in. He was quite attractive. The mystery man came down the alleyway. He looked at the pentagram. "Hey, hey excuse me can I asked you a couple of questions?" I called, running over to him. Just than a car drove past me, obscuring my vision. After the car drove past the place where he was standing, the man had disappeared.

"What was it?" Vicki asked, curious at what I had seen.

"Nothing," I answered, confused. Where could he have gone?

"You understand I usually wouldn't normally share this kind of information outside of the police force," Dr. Rajani Mohadevan scolded us. She walked towards the body Vicki requested, in her sky blue scrubs. "But there are times when we must rise above the rigidities of conventional ethics," She continued unclearly. With this she turned around and put on some gloves. I sighed. I hated when people were cryptic. "Solving this young fellow's murder is all that's important now," she stated, taking no notice of me.

"Amen to that," Vicki commented. I nodded in agreement "Whatever did this did not care about the extra marks for neatness, yikes," I muttered, looking down at his stringed neck, a little bit freaked out. But I was still sorry for the poor man who had his neck ripped out.

"Please not in front of the client," she stated to me.

"I don't think he'll mind," I replied causally.

"Just because he's dead doesn't mean he doesn't have feelings," she answered. I looked at Vicki questioningly.

"She sometimes gets a little too into her work," I heard her think in her mind. I nodded.

"What do you think caused the marks on his neck?" Vicki asked curiously.

"Faintly I haven't the clue," she responded.

"Celluci said there was another victim killed the same way," Vicki noted.

"Yes," she responded "With both, the wounds are jagged and uneven."

"Like from teeth," I inputted, staring obviously a Vicki. She just rolled her eyes.

"Like from teeth, but whatever did the cutting was razor sharp it cut skin muscle and cartilage in one fell swoop," she told us. "Vampires could do that," I thought

"No **_animal_** can do that," I replied, emphasising the word "animal". Vicki rolled her eyes again at the not-so-subtle clues I was firing at her.

"What about the blood?" Vicki asked.

"Exactly, what about the blood? Both victims were drained nearly dry," she informed us. "That's unnatural."

"What do you think this is? I found in a crack on the wall near where I lost sight of the killer. I know what I think it is but I need confirmation," Vicki asked taking out the zip lock bag and handing it over.

"Blood. Most certainly blood," she stated, making her way over to her laboratory. With this she put the sample into a beaker and dropped it in a liquid that instantly tuned light pink. "Ah, yes. Well whether it's from our young friend I can't say until I do more testing." She stated, sloshing the liquid around. "Maybe I should ask him" she joked. Vicki didn't find it funny, and neither did I. "I'm kidding" she comforted.

"Just let us know" Vicki informed her, then we exited the room into the cold night.

The next evening, after college and after Vicki's kind of date with Detective Celluci (she might have said it was business but I was the Empath), Vicki and I went to check out the club Ian worked at. It was dark chilly night but inside the club was hot, loud and filled with gothic looking people. So many emotions. Oh my god, it was giving me a psychic migraine. My sister and I stood out like a sore thumb because we were wearing normal clothes and the rest of the club wasn't. I was wearing a pair of black jeans and a plain tight black V-neck ¾ length shirt under a cobalt blue leather biker jacket. On my feet were a pair of classic black and white converse and I had on my usual sapphire star pendant, my silver moon chocker, my roman style ring, my silver tear drop studs, no makeup and my hair down, over my shoulders. Many people stared at us and the ones who weren't swayed and bounced to incredibly loud music that made me ears ring. We walked down the stairs but I was quickly stopped a tall, pale, handsome man that looked very familiar. "You're new here" he flirted.

"Not to that line," I retorted as moved to leave. He stopped me, grabbing my arm in a vice-like grip.

"What are you doing here," he asked, his voice low and hypnotic. I felt some force invading my mind, encouraging me to tell him. But I was an Empath and not going to be controlled so I just pushed the force right back out. "You might want to take that hand off my arm before I snapped it off at the wrist," I snarled, yanking my arm away. Surprise flashed across his face. I noticed Vicki a few feet away looking at us questioningly. I sighed. "Can't even enter a club for a whole five minutes before you get into trouble," she teased. I giggled quietly.

"He was just being an idiot," I replied, smiling. She smiled as we went to the front bar.

"Hey, can we talk to you for a minute" Vicki yelled to the bartender over the din of the music. "We need to know about Ian Reddick," Vicki asked. I rubbed my temples lightly. God this music and the emotions were really taking it out of me.

"He worked a normal shift, picked up his check, then headed home," the bartender told us, vaguely.

"Is that the best you can give me" Vicki asked. He looked away nervously. "Come one we just want to help," I told him, leaning provocatively over the bar.

"There were some guys he had a problem with," the bartender remembered suddenly. "Hey those freaks Ian threw out around tonight?" he asked a waiter that was passing by.

"They went outside with that guy," the waiter answered.

"What guy?" Vicki asked.

"Pale, black suit," he tried.

"That sure narrows it down," I said, looking around. Nearly every guy was pale and wearing a black suit. "Pretty boy, long brown hair," he tried.

"Mr mysterious man" I mumbled to myself.

"Where's outside?" Vicki asked the bartender, giving no indication that she had heard me. He glanced over to a barred up door. We immediately started towards the door. The second we got to the door two guys, thugs by the look of it, stopped us. "You don't want to go out there beautiful," the one near Vicki slurred at us.

"Yah, actually I'm pretty sure we do," Vicki stated calmly.

"Come on you, we should dance instead," the one near me said, running his smelly hand along my face. I shuddered then, faster than that either of the thugs or Vicki could see, I took them down. I returned to normal speed with both of the guys on the ground, moaning in pain. Vicki glanced at me in surprise. She had never actually seen me go at full speed before. "You picked the wrong dance partner, buddy," I retorted to the two drunk men as the huddled on the floor in pain. We pushed the door open and headed outside, to where Mr mysterious was talking to them. The second we opened the door a large man fell down against a dumpster as Vicki and I both took out our collapsible baton-like weapons.

"Who did this to you?" I asked, kneeling down, besides him.

"I don't know," the man answered, and from the emotions gushing off him I knew he was telling the truth. Where had the mysterious man, dressed in black gone?

"Where did you go?" Dr. Rajani asked her clipboard when we returned the next morning, on one of my free periods.

"Wild guess but I don't think they go anywhere," Vicki retorted.

"You'd be surprised," she said as she sighed in relief as the person under the sheet was the right person. "Now where were we?" she asked walking away from the maze of dead bodies, which was giving me goose bumps.

"Blood, we were talking about blood," Vicki reminded her.

"Yes, yes blood," she remembered. "Well it was blood and it was Ian Reddick's blood," she informed us, ticking off things on her clipboard. "How it got there I can't to say, there really is no reasonable explanation," she stated. I signed. Another dead end.

"You're going to think I'm crazy for mentioning this, but the women that hired me believes it was a vampire that killed him," Vicki admitted.

"Well that would explain certain other finding," she responded, surprising both of us. She believed in vampires? "There was a substance on Ian's throat, and that of the other victims, which was something like saliva," she noted.

"Like saliva?" I repeated, confused.

"I'd be more precise if I could, but it doesn't match any animal or human species." A confused look flashes across her face. "And there's something else," she remembered, walking over to a microscope. "I found this under the nails of the women that was killed in the parking garage last night," she stated. "It's very similar in structure to a bat's wing but…" she trailed off, expecting and answer from Vicki or myself. But, to my surprise, Vicki was the one who answered.

"But it doesn't match any human or animal species," Vicki finished.

"Exactly," she said, fascination wafting off her in waves. "Intriguing isn't it?"

"So what are we talking about then," Vicki asked, disbelievingly. "We've got Count Dracula out there on a bender?"

"We must keep an open mind," Dr. Rajani offered. "There are more things than heaven and earth in the officer's training manual."

"I'm starting to believe that" Vicki said and I nodded in agreement.

_Monday 27__th__ November 1999_

_I was an empathy, according to the research. A person who could feel everyone's emotions, but then why could I hear everyone's most inner desires? It didn't make sense. But it seemed that my life was like that nowadays_.

I was jerked out of my diary reading when the phone rang. Vicki, who was sitting at her desk with a ruler and a red permeant marker, answered it. As I came into the room, Vicki put it on speaker so I could listen too. I nodded thanks at her, which she kindly returned. "Vicki Nelson," Vicki answered.

"Ms. Nelson, its Coreen," came the voice at the other end.

"Hi, Coreen," Vicki replied politely, ruling lines on the map while she talked.

"Have you found out anything about Ian's killer yet?" Coreen asked impatiently. You didn't need to be an Empath to know that.

"You know, I told you this would take a little time," Vicki responded firmly.

"We might not have time," Coreen fired back. "How many people is this undead creep gonna kill before somebody stops it?" I jumped in before Vicki could say something she was probably going to regret. "Coreen it's me, Paige. Say this is something supernatural. You're all over this occult stuff, right?"

"Paige you know the answer to that question," Coreen replied.

I nodded. "Like ectoplasm on a poltergeist," I responded and I could hear her chuckle just a little bit. It was good to hear Coreen laugh again, she was really down after Ian's death. "What's the significance of a pentagram?" Vicki asked Coreen, glaring at me for a second before getting back to ruling her lines. I glared back at her then strode over to where a map with a half-finished pentagram was drawn on the map of town.

"It's a power symbol. They're used to focus power in rituals, like, to call spirits, that kind of thing." Coreen paused for a second and asked "Why? What did you find?"

"It may be nothing. If I find anything I'll get back to you, though," Vicki replied vaguely.

"You know something. Tell me," Coreen pleaded.

"Look, if I find anything I will call you back, okay? Bye," Vicki hung up abruptly, not giving me the chance to say goodbye. Vicki looked at me then shook her head when she saw the abandoned diary I was reading.

"I though you threw that away ages ago," she questioned at me, pointing to the forlorn looking diary on the floor. I picked it up and put in on the desk. "I thought I had, but I found it a couple of days ago and for some reason, started reading it again," I answered then asked Vicki "Are we going to stop that murder or what?"

Vicki nodded then picked up the phone, turning in off speaker mode "I'm just going to call Mike. Meet you on the street in, say 5 minutes?" I nodded and left the office, the setting sun glowing a golden haze behind me.

10 minutes later, much to my surprise, we were trudging through a small park, close to the university library. The suspected murder scene. Vicki looked up. All of a sudden Vicki darted forwards, towards two dark figures fighting, with me following close behind. To my surprise, the man disappeared in a cloud of dust or bats the second we got too close. Just like what I had seen on the night of the second murder. The remaining man went over and leaned over the unconscious girl. "Hey stop right there," Vicki yelled at him. The man looked over at us and snarled, revealing unnaturally pointed canines. I froze, in surprise. It was the mystery man!

"Take another move and you're going to lose all that, fancy dental work," Vicki screeched at him, her collapsible baton in her hands. I flicked out mine as the man stood up and took a step towards us, growling like a vicious animal. Vick swung her baton at the man but he moved faster than even I could see and knocked her out. "Vicki!" I cried then snarled at the mystery man "Oh no you didn't." I lunged forward, with all of my accelerated speed, whipping him hard across the chest. He flew back into a tree and made a crack in the wood. I stopped moving for a brief second to check whether he was okay but that was a second too long. Faster than I could see, he flew at me and I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and blackness rushed up to meet me.


	2. Chapter 2: Blood Price Part 2

**Chapter 2: Blood Price Part 2**

The next thing I know I'm in an olive coloured lamp lit room, lying on a sofa. I jumped in my skin when suddenly the body next to me start moving. I rolled over to have look who it was, and to my relief it was Vicki. "Vicki," I breathed in relief and heaved myself up into a sitting on the black leather sofa. A sharp spike of pain throbbed through my head, and I immediately felt dizzy and the room swam in my usually perfect vision. I quickly snapped my eyes closed and a moment later opened them to see the mysterious man from before. He was even cuter up close. "You son of a bitch," I muttered as I tried to lift myself up. My legs turned to jelly and failed me, I was headed for the ground but got stopped by the man's strong arm. I could feel the coiled muscles and strength through the thin fabric. He reminded me of a cat, poised and powerful. He gently lifted me up and placed me on the black sofa arm. "Oh easy, easy, easy," he comforted. He was forcefully pushed away by Vicki as she looked me, worried if I was okay. I faintly nodded at her and I could feel her relax a little bit but streams of hostility still flowed off her. "I was just trying to protect myself perhaps a little bit too forcefully, but you pack a powerful punch," He stated kindly to me. Even though I didn't know him and I could feel my sister's edginess, I relaxed around him. Maybe it was something to do with that the aura I got off him was different from anything else I had ever felt before. He wasn't radiating emotions as such, just an aura of safety and trust. "You think?" Vicki muttered, angrily. I smiled inwardly at my sister's usual behaviour. "I didn't have time to pick up your glasses, I see you carry an extra pair," he stated kindly, handing them over. "Now I know you won't believe me but I don't mean to hurt you," he promised and for some strange reason I believed him. Vicki, on the other hand, didn't. I could feel that much.

"You got a funny way of showing it," Vicki commented. I gave her the quick once over after she had said this, checking is anything was wrong. Apart from a headache, Vicki would me fine by the morning. Me, on the other hand, I wasn't that sure about.

"I wasn't the one that got whacked by your friend here and threatened your dental work," he stated, flashing a bright and trusting smile to Vicki. "My smile is my best feature," he finished, smiling to me as he handing me a glass of water. I accepted it graciously and gulped it down. It tasted clean and fresh, unlike our own plasticy tasting water at our run-down apartment.

"I never met a vain serial killer," Vicki commented, ignoring the part about the mystery man getting hit but in her mind she was asked herself "Did Paige really hit a serial killer and send him flying?" Vicki glanced at he and I nodded fainted, just so she could see that I had. "I didn't kill that women. I was trying to stop it," the man stated truthfully.

"Yeah, and why would we believe that?" Vicki questioned, staring straight into his brown eyes.

"You were there, you must have seen it," he fired back, staring straight into her hazel eyes. There eyes locked for at least a minute before Vicki looked away.

"I saw something, I don't know what I saw," Vicki countered, but I could tell she was lying.

"The problem with your eyes, it's more than just bad vision," the man noticed, signalling Vicki when he spoke. She took off her glasses and cleaned them while she spoke. "Yeah, it's called Retinitis Pigmintosa, it's a progressive loss of visual function," Vicki snapped, not liking the conversations about her eyesight. "It starts with night blindness, then your vision tunnels, so that it looks like you're looking through a straw. Next stop blindness, and to top it off I'm near sighted," Vicki explained then put her glasses back on.

"What about you? I've never seen a human move so fast," the mysterious man asked me curiously. I sighed deeply then explained. "I was born with a medical disorder called Myotonic Hypertrophy, a condition that includes reduced body fat and increased skeletal muscle size, making me stronger than the average adult." He nodded curiously then turned back to Vicki

"People with that condition might want to stay away from night time stake outs," the mystery man reasoned as he walked to the spare seat on the black leather sofa, sitting down besides Vicki.

"Are we going to talk about our problems or are you going to tell us what it was we were supposed to have seen," Vicki asked bluntly, getting straight to the point. Vicki stood up as she said this and went to stand next to me. I moved off the sofa arm and sat next to the mystery man as Vicki took my spot on the sofa arm.

"Okay," stated the mystery man, putting his black clad arm against the back of the sofa, incredibly close to my balancing hand as he crossed his legs. "It was a demon," he informed us. And he said it with such honesty that I believed him.

"Demon, sure why not," I replied earnestly, a tone which he took for sarcasm. Vicki just nodded slowly, disbelief rolling off her in torrents. "You two are taking it rather calmly," he stated, smiling at me.

"I think we'd be more concerned if we actually believed you," Vicki said looking over at me for my back up. I just shrugged, not sure what to believe nowadays.

"I suppose I wouldn't either," he said, smiling. "So how did you wind up there?"

Vicki was at a loss to words, for once in her life, so I spoke up for her. "We're busting your chops for talking about demons and we were out hunting a vampire," I informed him, sighing at the irony. The man smiled mysteriously and looked away. I got a feeling he was chuckling to himself. "Yeah, I know," Vicki remarked.

"I'm going to let you in on a little secret," he almost whispered, turning back to look straight at me, ignoring Vicki's last statement.

"You believe in vampires," I teased but underneath the sceptic facade I was secretly hoping that he said something different.

"I am a vampire," he stated calmly. And, for some crazy reason, I believed him. The reason that I believed him because part of my empathic ability was that I was able to sense when someone was lying. They gave off a particular aura that they didn't give off when they were telling the truth. And this mystery man might be crazy but he wasn't a liar. "You didn't try and kill us," Vicki stated hesitantly after seeing the look in my eyes that told her that he wasn't lying.

"Was I supposed to?" he asked leaning away finally, his smiled fading off his face. "I think we offended him," I thought.

"Isn't that what vampire's do?" Vicki inquired.

"And I suppose you also though that garlic and silver crossed would hurt us," he teased, smiling once again. "Call me old fashioned, but I pretty religious." Then he raised his arm and showed us a cross bracelet on black rosary beads.

"Say you are a vampire Mister…" I trailed off.

"Henry Fitzroy," he finished, taking my offered hand in his own. I almost gasped in surprise as electricity danced through my veins as our hands met. His hand was ice cold yet strangely embracing and warm at the same time. I quickly pulled away, and as I did, I realised that I had heard that name before.

"Fitzroy," I breathed in shock. He smiled knowingly at me.

"Why would you be trying to stop another blood sucker?" Vicki questioned, unaware of our exchange. "That's hardly professional courtesy is it."

"I couldn't have something like that running around town terrifying the masses, now could I? Next thing you know the villagers are out with their stakes and their torches," he answered, lost in memory.

"That happen often?" I asked, noticing the look on his face. He smiled, showing off his perfectly straight pearly white teeth, which I hadn't noticed before.

"Often enough," he responded, leaning closer to me.

"Really?" Vicki questioned sceptically.

"Really," Henry repeated to Vicki, his brown eyes never leaving mine. His eyes reminded me of melted chocolate, warm, smooth… I blinked and shook those thoughts out of my head. "Get a grip Paige," I mentally scolded myself. "You've only just met the man."

"I've lived a long time, almost 500 years," he said, smiling like he could read my thoughts. I lowered my eyes as I felt a heat rush to my cheeks. "Wow and I wouldn't peg you a day over 450," Vicki teased.

"I use great moisturizer," he responded modestly. This answer caused me to chuckle lowly. I don't think Vicki hear but Mr Fitzroy certainly did. He smiled even wider as I looked back up at him. Vicki looked over at me and Henry, having our almost flirtatious staring contest and rolled her eyes. "Get a room would you," Vicki thought and I nudged she slightly with me elbow. Her eyes widened and then I heard her mentally apologise. "Sorry Paige." I nodded. "You know it's a shame you two aren't the more trusting type," Henry said, oblivious to the sibling banter going on. With this he stood up and picked up a letter opener from on the table. "What is he going to do with that?" I wondered, almost fearfully. I could feel the slight tinge a fear coming off Vicki too.

"Hey," Vick gasped as we scrambled around the table to get away from Henry. Surprisingly and unsurprisingly, he didn't come after us. Instead he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and plunged the letter opener into his hand. I cringed slightly put saw him pull it out and expected to see blood gushing from the wound. But, surprisingly, none burst from his pale skin. He opened his brown eyes and I gasped. His eyes had turned pitch black, as black as onyx. He showed us his hand which had started to heal over.

"That's a nice trick" Vicki stated but I could feel the fear and confusion pouring off her. I felt dizzy from all of the emotions and rubbed my temples gently. Henry looked at me and even though his eyes were pitch black, I could tell me was sympathetic.

"It's not a trick, I'm telling the truth," he said, but his voice sounded double layered and more animalistic.

"That's what I was afraid of," I murmured. Henry looked almost sad at that remark as his eyes and voice returned to normal.

"So why did you bring us here?" Vicki questioned.

"If you had a more compliant personality" he stated, nodding to Vicki. "And if you didn't have so strong mental barriers," he said, rubbing his temple to signal that it was me he was talking about. "I could have made you forget what you saw" he finished. "But since you're both so…" he started.

"Strong willed," Vicki offered.

"Try hard headed," he responded, staring flirtatiously at me. I internally giggled. "I had two options I could eliminate you or I could trust you," he stated honestly, handing Vicki and I our collapsible batons. Vicki folded hers away with an electrical snap.

"Trusting is good," I stated, doing the same to mine. Henry relaxed a little when my collapsible baton was safely put back in my leather jacket pocket.

"If I sense I can't trust you two, I can still eliminate you before either of you do me any harm," he added bluntly.

"Hey, just because you got in a lucky shot doesn't mean I'm easy to kill," I retorted lightly. Within less than a millisecond of me saying that, Henry was in front of me lightly squeezing my neck.

"Everybody's easy to kill," he whispered in my ear, his head moving slightly.

"But I'm harder than most," I whispered back in his ear, quickly pulling away and giving him a seductive smile. I swear I heard him growl as a light come into Henry's eyes, the light of a challenge, and he smiled flirtatiously back. Vicki coughed suddenly behind us Henry and I snapped out of it and headed towards the door.

"Why us?" Vicki questioned curiously.

"You're private Investigators and you were good enough to find him the same time I did," he answered.

I shook my head and replied "Oh no I'm not a private investigator, I just help out." He nodded but I don't think he believed me, which was weird.

Henry continued. "The demon hunts nights as do I but there's a human that's calling him up and chances are, he's living his life by day," Henry informed us. Vicki continued walking towards the door, uncomfortable in the direction this conversation was going but I continued anyway. Someone had to ask. "You want to team up?" I asked, trying to keep the hopefulness out of my voice.

"Until the demon is stopped," he replied, but from his tone he wanted to see me afterwards, socially.

"We'll have to think about this," Vicki responded but she was just speaking for herself. I already knew what my answer was.

"Come to me tomorrow night with your answer," he told Vicki, sensing that I had already made up my mind. Henry walked to the door and opened it for us, like a proper gentleman. "And Vicki, I maybe the only one that can stop this demon don't even think about giving up my secret," he warned her. I don't think he thought that he need to remind me.

"Who'd believe us," she answered then started walking away but I paused for a minute. There was one last thing I wanted to say. "Have a good nap," I said flirtatiously to Henry. He smiled, leaned in closer and purred seductively "Don't worry, I will." Then he closed the door softly as I ran to catch up with my sister. She had stopped to watch the whole ordeal and turned to me.

"Have a good nap," she quoted, laughing.

"What?" I asked innocently, smiling just a little.

"You so like him," she teased, sounding like a teenager in high school. I straightened up a replied bravely "Yes I do. At least a vampire would be a change from an abusing nut job." Vicki stopped laughing and sobered up, putting an arm over my shoulders. "He's a long way away now sweetheart she reassured me. "He's not going to hurt you ever again."

I nodded. "Vic, I'm going to go home and try and catch up on some sleep. Meet you at the office after lunchtime?" I suggested, holding back a yawn as the sky started to turn golden pink with the rising sun.

She nodded. "Sweet dreams, Paige," She whispered to me before I ran off in super speed to our apartment. After changing into an oversized plain black t-shirt and drinking a relaxing cup of peppermint tea, I fell into a pleasant dream filled sleep, filled with images of a certain topless vampire.

Vicki had made up her mind the next time I saw her. We were working with Henry Fitzroy. After the sun had gone done, we wandered up to Henry's apartment. I rapped on the door eagerly, wanting to see Henry again. Oh gods I was falling for a guy that I had just met and that was a vampire. My life is now officially screwed up. Suddenly the door opened and Vicki and I walked inside Henry's apartment. Classical music was playing from a record player by the sound of it and half completed drawings lay strewn across his desk. We have clearly interrupted him in the middle of drawing. "I guess we're working together," Vicki informed him. I smiled lightly at him and he smiled back while Vicki was talking. I purposely ignored the thoughts coming from Vicki, with was quite a challenge, considering a lot of them were about me. We walked into part of the living room to see the walls covered in hand drawn comic book pages in various stages of completion and an old fashioned painting of Henry VIII. "A history buff?" I automatically asked, forgetting that I recognised his last name from somewhere.

"A family photo," he corrected. But it didn't click.

"Right," I responded, still oblivious to the facts staring me in the face.

"You believe I'm a vampire but not that I had a father?" he questioned curiously. But it still didn't click.

"And you just happen to be one of the most famous figures in history?" I countered. But then it finally clicked, who he was. "That would make you Henry, Duke of Richmond," I stated, shocked. He bowed his head in respect at me. "You surprise me again, how did you know that?" he inquired curiously.

"I'm studying history in university," I replied.

"Please don't get her started on history," Vicki telepathically pleaded. I glared at her then returned my eyes to Henry's when Vicki looked away from my glare.

"I learned mine the hard way," he informed me, a look in his eye that reminded me of someone reminiscing about the past. "I lived through it." Vicki, who had gotten bored, had stepped away and was now admiring the pictures on the wall.

"So how did you end up drawing comic books?" Vicki asked, pointing to a completed page of drawings.

"Graphic novels," he corrected. I walked over to the wall of drawing pages and started admiring the details in them. "Art and literature have always been my passions," he started, looking around at his drawings as well. "I finally found a medium where I could realize the both of them" he finished, staring into my face and smiling.

"This is going to take some getting used to," Vick stated, staring around the room.

"Okay, partner," I cut in, before Vicki had the opportunity to say something she would regret. "How about we start out with how you know so much about demons."

"London in the 1890's," he responded vaguely, pulling a drawing off the wall and staring at it. I stood closer to Henry so I could look at the drawing over his shoulder. We were so close that I could fell the chill rising off his body as he could probably feel the heat rising of mine. I took a step backwards as he turned around to face Vicki and I. "They called themselves the Hellfire club. Rich men and women that went to any length to release the boredom of their pampered lives," he informed us and I could feel the disgust creeping into his voice. "The club gave them the sense that they were being wicked they, had no idea. And that's when the evil at the centre of it all came to play," he informed us, his voice losing some volume, a sign that he was reliving old memories. "Amara was performing a ritual, I didn't know if it was real or not, but I knew he was trifling with something better left alone. I took the Grimoire so none of Amara's followers would use it. It was the smell of one of the crime scenes that gave it away. The worst kind of corruption imaginable," He finished, an almost invisible shiver running through him.

"I guess demonology is not for people with sensitive noses," Vicki quirked. I rolled my eyes at this remark and glared at her. She just shrugged, an innocent look on her face. "Once the demon touches them their minds are so broken they don't even know the difference," he informed me bluntly, and somehow I knew he was talking about me empathy. I froze. Was my power a sign that I was possessed? I'll have to ask Henry when we were alone so Vicki didn't freak out. Henry picked up a large old book and walked towards me, placing the book down on his desk. "Whoever called this demon still thinks he's in control," he remarked, sarcastically.

"Well if this guy's not calling the shots, than what does the demon want?" Vicki asked curiously.

"The thing I saw last night was a minor demon. His job is to open a door to bring a much more powerful demon through," Henry replied. "Once the pentagram in complete, all it takes is two more sacrifices to open that door," he finished, trailing off.

"You sure about this?" I asked, in an almost scared voice. Henry smiled at me sympathetically.

"His master is Astaroth, the same demon I fought 100 years ago," he stated.

I frowned. "Hold on, I though Astaroth only needed one more sacrifice to enter this plane?" I asked Henry, slightly confused.

"He did the first time but since I sent him back to hell, Astaroth needs two to enter the second time," Henry replied.

"Great and what, pray tell, happens at Astaroth's coming out party" Vicki asked. Henry turned away from us to stare at the board, as if the next words he didn't want to say. I walked over to his side, as if giving him support to say the next sentence.

"That's when all hell breaks loose," he finally responded quietly, seeming dead in his mind.

"For those of us who skipped demonology 101, define all hell breaks loose," Vicki asked, not noticing Henry's discomfort.

"Pure evil unleashed on earth," he answered simply as he put the old book, the Grimoire I realised, away in his book shelf. Vicki and I followed him.

"What like wars?" I questioned.

"Of biblical proportion," he replied. "Death, pestilence and despair for a thousand years. Most will become corrupt and fall sway to the dark forces those who don't, will die horribly," he finished bluntly.

"You know don't go painting it all rosy coloured for my benefit," I sarcastically told him, feeling uncomfortable. I put on my jacket and rubbed my temple. This had been a long day.

"Demons have escaped in the past," he told us.

"Why haven't we heard of this?" Vicki asked, shocked.

"You've heard of their work: the slave trade, the black deaths, Stalin's atrocities in Russia," he listed.

"Okay, if we stop the one that's calling the demon, do we stop the demon?" I asked, hopefully.

"If we get to it in time," he replied "The trick is finding him."

"Where do we start?" Vicki asked.

"Well the demon from last night can only material goods," Henry answered.

"Well we can't just go looking in every newly rich person in town" Vicki countered.

"Well the demon can't create the goods he has to steal them from somewhere close to where he's going to deliver them," he informed us.

"Well I guess I know what we're doing," Vicki stated and I mentally groaned. Vicki walked out of Henry's apartment. I was going to follow but Henry's expression made me stop. "Wait for me, I'll be out in a minute," I informed Vicki and she nodded warily before closing the door. Once she left I turned back to him. "How about you?" I asked curiously.

"Now it's time for me to take a nap," he answered, teasing me about yesterday's statement.

"Oh okay," I mumbled, a blush creeping into my tanned cheeks. I looked down and quickly tried to leave but he stopped me and lifted my head up gently. Tingles rushed through my body as his skin met mine.

"Paige," he murmured before raising the volume of his voice and taking away his hand. I almost shuddered as the tingling feeling disappeared when his hand left my face.

"I wanted to thank you for your help. I haven't met anyone quite like you in over a lifetime." He stated taking a step backwards so our bodies weren't almost touching. I internally signed. I liked being close to him. It made me feel safe, however weird that may sound. I breathed deeply trying to calm my nerves.

"What disabled?" I asked in a disgusted voice. Someone as beautiful as him couldn't be interested in a freak like me.

"No strong, beautiful and…" he trailed off lowering his voice. "Telepathic." I froze. So he didn't know my darkest secret. I took a deep breath before answering.

"Well vampire or not, we start hanging out together, people will say I'm a gold-digger," I informed him. He smiled at that before talking again.

"I'm willing to take that chance if you are," he smiled, taking a step forward, pulling us closer together.

"It must be that vampire magnetism that I find so tempting," I whispered, trying to find an excuse for the feelings I'd been having ever since I'd first met him. At that statement, he just smiled.

"My powers of persuasion don't work on you," he admitted, smiling broadly.

"Then I guess it's just you," I replied almost seductively. Suddenly I noticed how close we had gotten and how his eyes kept wondering to my lips. I quickly glanced at the door, remembering Vicki waiting for me. I turned back to him and whisper flirtingly. "Past your bedtime isn't it?" I teased. With that I gave him a light kiss on the check before darting out the room. My lips tingled from where I had lightly brushed then against his cheek. I rubbed them with one forefinger as I ran to catch up with Vicki. She looked at me suspiciously. "What took you so long?" She asked.

"Nothing," I replied cheerfully, skipping the whole way home like a love-sick teenager.

Coreen was back, demanding to know who did it. "So you found the vampire?" She asked, expectantly.

Vicki shifted uncomfortably in her seat before answering. "You know what? I can honestly tell you it's not a vampire," Vicki informed her.

Coreen sighed angrily. "You're as bad as the police. Look, I threw the I-Ching, consulted my spiritualist. How much more proof do you need? I know a vampire did it. And so do you two.

"Coreen," I started to say be she was having none of it.

"If you won't help me prove it, I'll do it myself. Goodbye Paige," She retorted, and stormed out of the office. I looked over to Vicki and she nodded. I tore off after Coreen. I caught up to her as she was leaving the building our office was in. "Coreen hear me out," I yelled after her. She stopped and turned around, glaring at me. "What?" She spat out. "It wasn't a vampire that killed Ian…" She signed and made to go but I gripped her arm tightly. "It was a demon." She stopped dead in her tracks and I let her arm go. She just stood there, staring at me. "How?" Was all she could manage to say.

"I'll tell you on the way to the campus. We have a lot to talk about," I stated and Coreen and started walking down the long concrete sidewalk to the University Annex.

After the sun had set, Coreen had finished working at the pub, and I had attended the lectures I was supposed to for the day, Vicki and I met at her office and walked to Henry's apartment. Vicki had a list of possible and interesting thefts. "I've identified a couple of thefts that seemed kind of kinky," Vicki said as we sat down around his desk. "Stuff stolen from a locked room, a Porsche taken from a show room full of people, cash taken from a bank volt with a time lock," Vicki started listing but stopped quickly as Henry interrupted.

"Childs play for a demon," Henry informed us.

"Well, all of them are around the University Annex, so chances are good that our target is right in the centre," I informed him, after studying the reports on the way over "I mean our demon caller might even be a student," I finished then shuddered. I might have classes with them.

"That's still too big an area" he told us. I sighed. What now?

"Well unless you have a demon GPS around here somewhere, this is all we have," Vicki countered. At these words he looked up at us with an idea. But I don't think it was a good one. "I was hoping not to have to do this," he admitted.

"What do you mean, you actually have a demon GPS?" I asked, shocked and curious at the same time.

"I have always avoided contact with the dark arts. Although what I'm going to do isn't much more than a parlour trick it is still a repugnant," he informed us, looking at me in concern. "Do you want to leave," he offered, still looking at me.

"I'm always up for a good trick" I told him, nervously. Within minutes Henry had a mirror and multiple flowers in a tray. He said a few words in Latin, but I couldn't recognise them, before freezing still. Vicki and I looked over in the mirror, expect to not see Henry's reflection. But sadly, we could.

"Hey I can see you," Vicki gasped. I signed in disappointment. "Man, another vampire myth blown to bits," she complained. Henry ignored her as he continued with the spell.

"That's not what we needed to show," he informed her as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of material. "I took this from the demon in the park," he told us. "This is the one we seek," he stated, throwing the scrap into the bowl. "We need to know where it will strike next," he added to the mirror. With that the mirror fogged over before showing us a park with a fountain and a skating area. "I know where that is," he told us.

"It looks like a city park, there could be twenty places like that," I countered, forgetting for a second that he was a vampire.

"Demons aren't the only ones who hunt lonely places at night," Henry informed me, reminding me. "I know this city, it's by Queen's Park" he finished.

"Alright then, let's go," Vicki shrugged, putting on her leather jacket.

Within the hour we were walking around Queens Park. "To bad that spell didn't tell us when he was going to strike" Vicki complained, shivering a little from the cold.

"He won't waste any time, he'll take his last sacrifice tonight," he replied, looking around.

"You love it don't you, the night, all of this," I asked, slightly sadly.

"It's what I am, it's what I've been for a long time," he answered without actually answering.

"Speaking of which how does one actually become a vampire?" I asked, nervously and curiously. Vicki gave me a questioning look but I ignored it. I was intrigued.

"Vacation in Transylvania," he joked but not smiling.

"Come on Henry I'm serious," I replied.

"There was a woman, Christina, we met at my father's court. She was only there in the evening and she wouldn't let me see her in the day," he started, looking pained and sad. "Suppose you love someone so much that you shut off your rational mind," he inputted wearily.

"Yeah I'm familiar with the phenomenon," I answered, thinking about my last abusive boyfriend. "So she, she fed on you?" I questioned nervously, feeling sorry for Henry.

"It's one reason to take a mortal lover," he answered unclearly.

"Didn't you notice the marks on your neck," I asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

"My neck wasn't the only place she put her mouth," he answered, causing my cheeks to redden in embarrassment.

"Oh," I stammered, blushing a bright pink colour. He smiled slightly at my embarrassment.

"Then after about a year she finally confessed to me what she was," he continued. "People in the court had become suspicious, she had to move on. I begged her to turn me," he admitted quietly.

"Wait you wanted to become a vampire?" Vicki asked. He turned to her and nodded before quickly turning back to me.

"I wanted to be like her, I wanted to be, I wanted to be with her forever." He continued, making me feel sad for Henry.

"Forever's a long time," Vicki commented. Henry wasn't taking much notice of her, his focus was fixed on me.

"She warned me that two vampires couldn't share the same hunting grounds but I didn't believe her. I told her that true love would prevail. She drank my blood and I drank hers. I died and I turned from death. She showed me the ways of the night, the love making was unbelievable," he remembered.

"You should work in recruitment," Vicki said. Henry ignored her statement and continued on with his story.

"Than shortly after a year I was feeding on a woman I'd met at a tavern, Christina was suddenly there, angry, vicious," he explained sadly.

"Jealous," I offered. He shook his head.

"It was the territorial instinct she warned me about. We almost killed each other and then she was gone," he finished. The story was so tragic and I felt very bad about bringing it up so I had to say something.

"I'm sorry," I apologised, earnestly.

"I should have listened," he replied. "I'd have lost her anyway but still," he trailed off, lost in memory.

"You never saw her again?" Vicki asked gloomily.

"You live long enough, everything comes around again," was all he said. Suddenly a loud, manly scream ripped through the air and Henry's and my heads shot up as we took off running across the field in our accelerated speed, Vicki trailing behind. We slowed down as we all ran into the skate park to see the man with the long leather jacket and hat holding a teenage boy. Henry lunged at him knocking him over and releasing the boy. They both started fighting, super speed martial arts, as Vicki ran over to the boy. I extended my collapsible baton but froze as I saw Henry scratched across the chest by his super sharp claws.

"You okay?" Vicki asked, not noticing. I charged into battle, whacking him away from Henry. I barely noticed the boy staring at us. The demon had turned to me. Vicki tried to swing at the demon but just got pushed to the side. He turned to me. He swung at me which I barely ducked for, even at my accelerated speed. Just as he was about to swing again Henry lunged at him knocking him away from me. Henry ended up getting pinned against a fence as the demon ripped at his chest. I whacked him hard across the back sending him flying. He fled over the fence disappearing in a swarm of bats.

"Henry," I cried noticing him leaning against the fence bleeding badly. "Vic, go and get the boy out of here," I ordered. Seeing the look on her face I sighed and added "please?" Vicki rolled her eyes and helped the boy away from the skate park. I turned my attention back to the injured Henry. "Oh my god you're okay right?" I begged, tears coming to my eyes. "Come on you just heal right?" I asked, Henry, begging that he would be alright. He said something which I even I didn't hear so he repeated it. "I need to feed" he repeated. I nodded and pulled up the arm of my leather jacket and put it in front of his mouth. He immediately grabbed my arm and brought it to his mouth. The next instant I felt a sharp pain before a tingly chilling spark feeling ran through my body. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. I gasped in surprise at the feeling. Suddenly he pushed my arm away. I went to bring to back but he pushed it away again. "Enough," he growled before continuing in a more human voice. "I gotta go home! I need to go. Take me home." I nodded and supported him back to his apartment. I supported Henry inside, not catching the eye of the night-time guard, but, unfortunately we got seen by him.

"Mr. Fitzroy?" he asked nervously. "Are you okay?" I nodded and pushed onwards. Once we got into his apartment, I pulled his top off as he plunked down on the bed. I could tell by his face and the fact that he kept pushing into the bed that he was in severe pain. I watched him struggle with the pain for hours until suddenly he pushed upwards causing me to watch him worriedly.

"Henry, you okay?" I tried to ask before I noticed he was out cold. Oh god, was he dead? I felt for breath but felt none. I hope this was normal, for a vampire. I stayed there all day, ignoring the texts from Vicki and Coreen until I heard a loud rapping on Henry's door. I turned away and got off the bed. "Mr Fitzroy?" a man called through the apartment as I went to the door and looked through the peephole. It was the night time guard from the lobby and he was holding a stake and a wooden hammer. I turned back to look at Henry to his wounds mostly healed.

"Oh crap," I whispered. What can I do? Suddenly a red and black silky dressing gown lying over at the side caught my attention. I quickly grabbed it, yanked my leather jacket and shirt off, pushed the straps of my bra down off my shoulders and draped the red silky dressing gown around me. Kicking my clothes under the sofa, I swung the door open. I flicker my brown hair forwards and tried to use the door as coverage. "Hi," I stated, painting slightly for effect. My appearance caused him to jump in surprise.

"Hi" he answered nervously, shoving the stake and hammer behind his back.

"Can I help you" I asked, smiling sweetly.

"Can, um I was just checking in," the man lied, answering unbelievably quickly. He wasn't a very good liar. "I was worried about Mr. Fitzroy," he continued to lie, sweating slightly.

"Ah, that's so sweet of you," I acted, smiling kindly. "Henry's um, Henry's fine," I stated, biting my lower lip and trying to appear flustered slightly. I had always been good at acting and even better at lying. "Hey babe it's just the door man," I called into the apartment to add affect. "Henry's a little bit tied up right now," I stated as I noticed him try look back into the apartment. I winked so that he got my meaning. I think he did. "Oh okay I'm sorry I didn't want to disturb anything, anyone sorry," he stammered, flustered at my whole act.

"It's okay, but you have yourself a good night alright," I told him, smiling brightly.

"Thank you, you too," he stammered as I closed the door. I picked up my clothes and I went back into Henry's bedroom, hoping to get changed back into close before he woke up. I turned away as I slid my shirt on. Suddenly I heard Henry gasp for air. I looked back, concerned, to see Henry crouched up on the bed watching me, smiling broadly. "How long have you been awake?" I asked, slightly annoyed.

"Long enough," he stated.

"Yah well get dressed, we've got a lot of work to do" I said, smiling, grabbing a clean shirt of Henrys and throwing it at him.

"You're beautiful," he said honestly. This made me blush slightly before being able to talk.

"Chop, chop Mister," I retorted, laughing. He smiled at me before grabbing the shirt and putting it on.

An hour after I had called Vicki to check in, my ears were still ringing. Henry had been smiling at me the whole time I had been on the phone, probably because he could hear to whole argument. Henry and I were going to the University Annex to see a professor while Vicki had to gone to do some research at the police station. "So I guess it shouldn't really be a surprise that the professor of the occult works late," I stated while we waited outside the university library.

"She's a bit of a night hawk herself, I've consulted on her over various matters over the years," he answered.

"Does she know what you are?" I asked unsurely.

"She's my good friend," he answered vaguely, nodding his head slightly. Just than we turned to see a slightly elderly lady walk up. I think I knew her. She was one of the professors that Coreen had dragged her along to see one of her seminars.

"Henry," she greeted, smiling and kissing him on the check. "I've missed you," she said as we started walking. "I know you," she stated, looking at me. "You went to one of my seminars." I nodded and blushed slightly because Henry stared at me in surprise.

"Yeah. Paige Nelson, nice to properly meet you," I stated, shaking her hand.

"We're working together on something," Henry stated. "Sorry to keep you late but we need some information about a student," he continued.

"Anything Henry you know that," she answered, spiking my jealousy. Hang on, why was I jealous? I wasn't even dating Henry.

"We believe a student at the University might have taken an interest in demonology," Henry said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"A more than academic interest," she added. "Every year there's a few. They play one too many games of Dungeon and Dragons and then they start looking into places they have no business," she explained.

"Can you get us names?" I asked politely. "Current student's anyone perhaps from previous years?"

"You give me an hour I could fax you 7 or 8 names you might want to check out," she replied.

"Alright here's my sister's card," I told her, handing one of our flash business cards over to her. "And fax number," I pointed out. I turned my attention away as I felt my phone vibrate. My cell phone's caller ID said it was Mike Celluci. How did Mike get this number? "Hi Mike. I think you've got the wrong number, this is Paige Nelson…" I trailed off as Mike interrupted.

"No I haven't. Your sister's not telling my anything so maybe you would be more generous?" Mike asked politely.

"How did you even get this number?" I integrated, feeling if my privacy had been invaded. Henry had stopped talking to the professor and had started to circle me. He had a worried look on his face.

"Your sister gave it to me when you have that problem with your ex-boyfriend but that's beside the point. I got a body in the skate park," he stated.

"Skate park yah, no I have no idea," I lied, just like Vicki had done.

"This kid says you were there do you want to come in for a line-up?" he asked.

"No not really, I'm kind of busy tonight. Goodbye Mike." I stated then hung up. God Vicki and Mike could be so annoying sometimes. I slid the phone back into my pocket to automatically get questioned by Henry.

"This cop Mick there's a story there," he said. I shook my head

"Wrong sister. Vicki dated him. Mike was kind enough to sort out some," I paused, not really wanting to tell him about the crazy ex-boyfriend. "Problems, a while ago," I finished. He nodded then looked over at the sky and down at his watch uncomfortably. "I've got to go," he stated. "If you find our man before tomorrow night don't try to take him yourself," he told me, almost in a condescending way. "Wait for me," he finished.

"And what should I tell him, to stop killing for a little while?" I questioned, annoyed that he thought Vicki and I couldn't protect ourselves. With this he took a step closer to me and looked me straight in the eyes before speaking. "Bravery is a powerfully attractive trait in a woman. Stupidity is not," he informed me. "I'll call you," he finished, putting his finger against my chin. The familiar tingle ran through my body as she touched. I pulled my chin away as he pulled his finger away. He then turned and walked away into the night.

The next day, I got home from University just as Vicki was going out. "Where are you going?" I asked

"Travis O'Donnell's place, 30 Davis St," Vicki informed me as I heaved my back pack down in the floor of the office.

"I'm coming," I replied and she nodded. She knew, from past experience, that there was no way you could convince me out of something once I wanted to do it. She locked up the office and signalled a taxi. As we were in a taxi heading to Mr. O'Donnell's place, Vicki picked up her phone listening to a voice message. After listening to whatever the message was she looked at her piece of paper of the suspects list, cursed, and dialled a different number. "Hey Henry we got our guy, his name's Norman Bridewell, 52 Lunagun Ave. We're on a way, get there as soon as you wake up," she said before hanging up the phone. "52 Lunagun," she retold the driver. "He has Coreen," she told me. I cursed, angry at whoever had taken my friend. "Time to kick some demon ass," I spat as we sharply turned.

Within minutes we reached an old messy house. We both tried walking cautiously up the stairs trying not to make any noise. We reached an empty room with multiple expensive items. We walked over to another door to see Coreen gagged and tied to a chair. Her eyes became big in worry and she started scrumming as we got closer. Suddenly I saw Vicki get hit in the head just before I felt a sharp pain in my head and I was surrounded in darkness. When I woke up I had a ringing in my ears and could hardly hear, which freaked me out a lot. My hands tied behind my back with my face at floor level and my palms felt oddly damped, like someone had sprayed them with water. I could barely see Vicki beside me. Just than a man leaned over top of us and harshly splashed a liquid inside the circle as the demon from before appeared. "Took you long enough," the man, Norman probably, said.

"Sorry," the demon apologised, but I could tell that he was lying.

"See? You couldn't even find the proper sacrifices, so I had to find my own," Norman teased.

"Lord Astaroth will be pleased," he said kneeling down in front of Vicki and me, examining us.

I felt Vicki struggle besides me. "Don't listen to him! He's using you! Trying to mess with your head," Norman flicked her on back of her head.

"What are you talking about? You don't even know him. For all you know, he's a nice guy. Look at him, right?" Norman told her then turned to the demon in the circle. "All right, so tell me. What do I have to say to get him here?" The demon leaned over and whispered some words in his ears. I closed my eyes and waited for the end of my life, tears running down my face. Where was Henry? Suddenly I felt a burning pain in my palms where the wetness was. It felt like I was getting branded. I opened my eyes to see that where the demon standing, he had vanished. Everything started shaking, like there was a powerful wind in the room, as the centre of the pentagram lit up, revealing half of a ghostly, creepy looking man, dressed in black robes with a flaming red aura.

"Finally," the ghost said, signing. His voice sounded like nails being scraped down a chalkboard. After a pause, when Norman said something I couldn't made out, he questioned him "You were the one who called me? Quickly, complete the final sacrifices so I can fully enter this plain you will have what you wish," he said. With these words I started pulling the ropes apart, trying to get free, but somehow the ritual had also made me weak. I sighed and more tears came to my eyes. "Help," I tried to telepathically call to Henry, even though I had never do that before. There was a first time for everything, I guess. I saw Norman dart behind me and return with a ritualistic knife, which hovering dangerously over Vicki and I.

"Norman" I cried, trying to reason with the obviously insane Norman. "He's lying; he's not going to give you anything. He's going to kill you, he's going to kill all of us," I sobbed.

"Shut up," he snapped, bringing the knife close to my face. I whimpered and closed my eyes. I wasn't going to look. But I couldn't help myself. Curiosity, they did say, killed the cat. I opened my eyes to see Norman raise the knife above his head. Suddenly he stopped and looked at the door. I looked to see what he was staring at to see Henry standing there, calling something I couldn't make out. I signed in relief and my heart expanded in my chest. Henry was here, Henry was here. Astaroth put out his hand at Henry causing him to fall to the ground. "Henry," I cried, hoping, wishing that he was okay. He looked at me, growled viciously at Astaroth, before continuing whatever it was he was saying. I finally managed to push myself off the ground, and moved to stand next to Henry. "No," the ghostly figure, Astaroth, screamed, slowly sinking back into the floor. He put out his hand and Norman went flying at him, before both of them got sucked back to Hell. Henry ripped my binds off angrily them embraced me in a hug. I quietly sobbed into his shirt before a sound caused me to look up at the stairs. Mike was standing there, hold his gun and doing the same thing for Vicki. Henry reluctantly realised me and I started rubbing at the dark symbols on my palms. "They won't come off," I cried, panicking and looked Vicki to see hers weren't coming off either. Henry lightly touched my shoulder, causing me to look up at him. "We can't worry about that now," he comforted, leading me away from the crime scene. "You're okay let's get out of here," he informed me, putting his arm around my trembling shoulder. Mick moved towards me, concerned, causing me to look at him for a second.

"Vicki, Paige, what the hell did I just see" he asked, more to Vicki than to me.

"It's a really long story" I informed him, leaving with Henry. "Have fun," I called back to Vicki.

"Thanks," she telepathically retorted and I smiled.

The next day, after long dreamless sleep, Coreen came into our office to see us. "Paige, Vicki I can't thank you enough," she thanked, smiling for the first time since this whole mess began. "Not just for finding Ian's killer, but for proving to me there really are vampires," she continued. I sensed Vicki freeze behind me. She knew?

"Who said there really are vampires?" I acted, knowing I had to protect Henry's secret, even from my best friend.

"Henry, I saw him remember?" she said, looking at me with a knowing expression on her face. "The eyes the teeth all the rest."

"Well I think it would be better for all concerned if you never mentioned that ever again," Vicki stated honestly. I nodded in agreement.

"I agree, nobody would believe me," she stated before continuing hopefully. "But now that I know I would be a great assistant for you," she stated before turning away to look at Vicki. "Look I haven't been to class in two months, school is not an issue," she informed us nervously. I nodded in agreement, which seemed to settle Coreen a little bit. "I can help you," she told us "Plus it will keep me quiet about what I've seen?" she offered hopefully. I looked at Vicki and nodded vigorously. She smiled, before turning to Coreen.

"$500 a week, no benefits unless you count buying coffee," she finally said, caving. Suddenly Vicki and I were surrounded in a tight hug, which I returned and Vicki didn't.

"Thank you," she thanked happily.

"Don't ever do that again," Vicki said. Coreen nodded and I smiled and started walking away, knowing I had to get to school.

Later that night, while I was walking home, I felt a familiar chill down my back. My pulse racing as I spoke. "Hey" I said, turning around to face the handsome vampire.

"I wanted to thank you for your help Paige, you would make a great detective," Henry stated, smiling.

"Thanks?" I acknowledged, slightly puzzled. The puzzlement on my face caused his smile to widen. After a lengthy pause, which I don't think anyone noticed, I continued. "It was weird working with you but I enjoyed it," I admitted honestly.

"Good. This won't be the end for us," he informed me, smiling mysteriously.

"No?" I asked hopefully.

"You gave me your blood," he reminded me, taking a step closer, so I could feel his breath mingling with mine. He gently raised up chin so my eyes met his. This simple gesture caused the nerve endings to tingle with electricity. "You're a part of me now," he whispered, not needed to raise the volume of his voice because I could hear him perfectly.

"You know feel free to ah, call me if you need to hunt down any demons or…" I trailed off, leaving the ending open suggestively. He nodded, smiling brightly, before the smile faded off his face.

"Paige speaking of demons," he questioned, gently looking down at my palms. The marks had not come off and I had tried everything. The last resort to try and hide them was to wear a pair of tight fitting sapphire blue fingerless gloves, which did work, much to my relief. "Yeah these right?" I remembered lifting my covered palms towards his face. He looked at the covered patch of skin, where the marks lay hidden, and a worried look crossed his face.

"I don't know what they mean, if they mean anything at all," he admitted honestly and I nodded.

"But you're worried," I replied. "I may have agreed to go study with a demon," I told him causing him to smile nervously.

"All I know is Astaroth is an enemy of both of us now," he informed me.

"And Vic," I reminded him.

"And Victoria," he added.

"Well I guess we better stay in touch" I whispered then gently lifted my lips to his. An explosion rocketed through my body as we kissed. All I knew that this is where I belonged, at Henry's side. He applied more pressure to my lips and ice roared through my veins, cold and chilling. The kiss only lasted for a short time but it felt like aeons of passion. Our lips parted and we both panted for breath. "I love you Henry," I bravely admitted then looked down at the floor, refusing to meet his eyes, knowing that a rejection was next. But he just raised up my head so our eyes met and whispered "I love you to Paige." Then, like gentle gust of wind he was gone. I signed and continued the walk home. When I unlocked the door and flicked on the light, a red light beeped on our answering machine. I pressed the replay button and the voice that haunted my nightmares, the voice that I feared echoed through the empty silent house. "You thought that you can get rid of me that easily, did you Paige? Well I'm back, baby, I pissed off, and yeah," His voice lowered and I shivered at his next words "I know your phone number and your home address." The message ended and sounded erupted from me, a sort of strangled sob noise. I collapsed on the ground, sobbing, feeling very alone and scared. I shakily drew my phone from pocket and, with trembling fingers, dialled Vicki's cell phone. After a few rings that felt like centuries apart, Vicki's slightly annoyed voice sounded on the other end. "Paige, what is it? I'm in the middle of something."

Through the occasional sob I stammered the words which Vicki never wanted to hear again. "He's, he's back."


End file.
